Dallas attorney Jamey Newberg has been covering the Texas Rangers, from the big club down through the entire farm system, since 1998. His website can be found at www.newbergreport.com.

Six sleeps.

If spring training weren’t a week longer than normal, if the
season opened yesterday rather than six days from now, Derrick Turnbow might
have earned a spot in the bullpen and Josh Rupe might have been in a new uniform.Spring training always seems too long, but if
the upshot of this extended camp includes the rescuing of Rupe’s Rangers
career, then I’ll be the first to thank the WBC.I’ve always been a bigger fan of Rupe’s than the
numbers suggest I should be, but I see his stuff sink and dance and I hold out
hope that he can find the kind of command that just might make him a pitching
staff weapon capable of taking on a number of different roles.

If this new subtle slide by a few inches to the left does
the trick for Rupe, if toeing the pitching rubber more on the first base side means
more first-pitch strikes and better fastball command and just as many ground
balls and a whole lot more consistency – in his last three outings (including
consecutive-day efforts Sunday and Monday), he’s allowed no runs on three hits
and no walks in three innings, striking out one and coaxing seven ground ball
outs – then the man I had the audacity to call this franchise’s number three
prospect in November 2006 (behind John Danks and Eric Hurley and ahead of
Edinson Volquez) and then my big league pitching sleeper in 2008 just might
make himself a fixture on this staff.

Let’s hope.

Turnbow, who would have pitched back-to-back days as well
had he not been scratched yesterday with a knee issue, has been told he
probably won’t make the Opening Day staff, and he has the contractual right to
request his release today.

While Jason Jennings may not have joined Frankie Francisco,
C.J. Wilson, Eddie Guardado, and probably Rupe and Warner Madrigal in securing
a roster spot, he’s got to be close, maintaining a 1.69 ERA in six relief
appearances (two runs on 10 hits and four walks in 10.2 innings, fanning eight)
and, maybe more importantly, demonstrating an ability to come in with runners
on base and throw strikes.Jennings has an opt-out
clause that kicks in tomorrow.Don’t be
surprised if he’s added to the roster by Wednesday, because he’s pitched well
enough for other teams to get involved.

That would leave one spot in the bullpen, and the way Kris
Benson pitched yesterday – three runs on six hits and no walks in six innings,
fanning two – it might be an upset at this point if Texas doesn’t give the 34-year-old
Saturday’s exhibition start in Arlington and then the ball in the finale of the
season-opening three-game series against Cleveland, which would effectively
mean the final relief role would be filled by Scott Feldman.

Willie Eyre was on track to land a spot but hasn’t been able
to shake a right groin strain.

Don’t rule out the possibility that Texas acquires a right-handed reliever this
week.It was three days before the
opener last year that the club traded minor league reliever Jose Marte to Arizona for Dustin
Nippert, who was out of options and not going to make the Diamondbacks’
staff.

Nippert, as you might recall, struggled horribly in April and
was designated for assignment in May, clearing waivers and permitting Texas to outright his
contract.After throwing a seven-inning no-hitter
for Oklahoma late in June, he was back in Arlington early in July.I bring that up because it wouldn’t be surprising
to see the Rangers designate newly acquired first baseman Joe Koshansky for
assignment this week, in order to reclaim the 40-man roster spot they filled by
claiming the 26-year-old off waivers from Colorado over the weekend.Koshansky’s situation differs from Nippert’s
because he has two options left, but Texas
is almost surely going to attempt to get him through waivers as teams deal with
their own roster issues.

The 40-man roster adjustments will take some
creativity.If Benson, Guardado, Jennings, Elvis Andrus,
and Omar Vizquel make the team, designating Koshansky and transferring Eric
Hurley and Joaquin Benoit to the 60-day disabled list will only create three of
the five needed roster spots.(Leave
Andruw Jones out of it for now – if he makes the team, it likely means Frank
Catalanotto won’t, and so that roster issue takes care of itself.)Assuming Nippert’s back injury and Tommy
Hunter’s and Eyre’s groin injuries aren’t serious enough to make the 60-day DL
a consideration, how do you create the two rosters spots you need?Two of lefthander Kason Gabbard, righthander
Luis Mendoza, and third baseman Travis Metcalf could be candidates for a designation
for assignment, but a 60-day DL assignment for Hunter could make sense since it
can be backdated to March 27, and the club would be allowed to include a 30-day
rehab assignment in his DL stay.(The
downside?Placement on the disabled list
would entitle Hunter to big league pay, while an option would not.)

The team could even make Brandon Boggs the 25th man,
taking neither Catalanotto nor Jones to Arlington.That would create one added roster spot.But Ron Washington is saying that the job
will come down to Catalanotto or Jones.

The left knee soreness that ended Chris Davis’s day early on
Monday is not expected to keep him out of action for long.

The Angels will start the season without their top three
starting pitchers (well, at least their top two and wherever Kelvim Escobar
figures in, coming off a season lost to injury that followed 2007’s 18-7, 3.40
mark), and now comes confirmation that Oakland ace Justin Duchscherer will miss
more than just the beginning of the season.He’ll reportedly have arthroscopic elbow surgery today, and could miss
two months.

Brad Wilkerson, in Boston
camp on a minor league contract, struck out 18 times in 42 anemic at-bats
(.119/.196/.286 – just five hits) and
didn’t wait for his April 1 opt-out date to seek other opportunities.He left Red Sox camp on his own late last
week.

Chan Ho Park (2.53 ERA) has 25 strikeouts and two walks in
21.1 innings for the Phillies.He’s
close to earning a rotation spot.

Only one Phillies player has more spring at-bats than John
Mayberry Jr., but he’s cooled off (.246/.288/.464) after a strong start, and
multiple stories indicate that the club is shopping for a right-handed-hitting
backup outfielder.

Milton Bradley has dealt with minor injuries off and on
through Cubs camp, but he’s hitting a monstrous .524/.583/.929 in 42 at-bats.

I’m about to devote too much space to this note, but I’m unruly
that way.I wrote this on July 19, a
dozen days before last summer’s trade deadline, when Texas was in third place in the division and
8.5 games back:

Surveying the
landscape of potential bullpen additions the Rangers could make this month, I
think I know who my number one candidate is.

He won’t cost us John
Mayberry Jr.

He won’t cost us
Johnny Whittleman and Evan Reed.

He won’t cost us
Michael Schlact and Marcus Lemon, and he won’t cost us Derek Holland.

He’d cost us a
transfer of Jason Jennings from the 15-day disabled list to the 60-day disabled
list.

I’m not sure there’s a
potential trade out there that would work for me any more than getting 33-year-old
Kiko Calero up here.

In four appearances
since signing, the Oklahoma
reliever has a 3.00 ERA, but all the damage came in his first appearance back
on July 6 — when he hadn’t pitched in 18 days.

In his last three
RedHawks appearances, Calero (whose lifetime big league track record includes a
3.56 ERA with 255 strikeouts and 96 walks in 242.2 innings) has been perfect,
facing five hitters and getting six outs (a caught-stealing accounting for the
turbo-efficiency).In two hitless and
walkless innings, Calero has fanned four.

He’s coming back from
a rotator cuff injury diagnosed a year ago.But every reliever on the market right now will have warts, whether it’s
health or effectiveness or a bad contract.And he seems to be pitching healthy.And effectively.

I’ll take Calero, and
keep the prospects.

Calero in Marlins camp this spring: nine appearances, nine
innings, no runs, three hits (all singles; .107/.138/.107), one walk, six strikeouts.I’m not sure where his velocity is, and the bullpen
competition in Florida camp is stiff, but I
wish Calero were still here making himself a candidate to pitch in relief for Texas.

George W. Bush accepted the Rangers’ invitation to throw out
the ceremonial first pitch on Monday.

I heard The Play on the KRLD broadcast Sunday, and could
tell from Eric Nadel’s and Steve Busby’s reaction that it was
transcendent.There were no television
cameras on hand to capture an MLB Network or SportsCenter highlight, but we got
multiple beat writer accounts, and then this from Dallas Morning News columnist
Kevin Sherrington today:

On a sharp ground ball
just to the left of second, Elvis laid out, gloved it, pushed up and, using his
right hand for support only, flipped the ball out of his glove to Ian Kinsler
for the start of a double play.

Josh Rupe, the
beneficiary of the web gem, subsequently offered his thanks and a question.

Rupe: “You gonna be
able to do that every game?”

Elvis: “Yes.”

Washington said after the game that most shortstops would
have gotten to the ball, but making the pitch to second, not only without the
use of his throwing hand but also in a spot that allowed his double play
partner to receive it and complete the twin-killing?Not as customary.Nadel’s opinion?Maybe Alex Rodriguez makes the play.Maybe Benji Gil gets there, but he bobbles
it.Same with Esteban Beltre.Manny Lee, Royce Clayton?No.

I didn’t see it, but the silver lining about having no
footage of Andrus’s 6-4-3 magic is that it would really have been just a
trailer.We’ll see it again.

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